Walk 1: Pavyott’s Mill and Naish Priory
Length: Approx. 4 miles
Type: Circular
Difficulty: Level walk involving stiles, roads, fields and some uneven ground
Footwear: Waterproof footwear advisable
Start: East Coker Village Hall (Grid Ref: ST537128), Halves Lane
Parking: East Coker Village Hall, Halves Lane
Walk 1 takes you around the northern part of the Parish along sunken lanes, by river bank and across redsand farmland, passing historic buildings and features of the famous sailcloth and rope-making industries which were East Coker’s main employers in the days before steamship.
So come and follow in the footsteps of T.S. Eliot and William Dampier.
(To be used in conjunction with the East Coker Rights of Way Map. Path names in brackets)
1. From the Village Hall car park, turn left into Halves Lane. Continue to the T-junction and turn left.
2. Continue over the small bridge for 50yds, and on your right is a phone box.
A short diversion from the walk is Hymerford House (Grade I Listed), claimed to be the birth-place of William Dampier. Continue 50yds further down the road until you reach the entrance to East Coker Primary School. Directly opposite, Hymerford House can be seen. Retrace your steps back to the phone box.
3. Cross the road to the phone box, and start to follow the track (Bridleway Y9/53 Moor Lane). Immediately on your left, beyond the house, will be a stile; cross this and start to follow the footpath to Pavyott’s Mill (Y9/30).
4. Keeping the River Odd on your left, follow the path over 3 stiles (Y9/32).
40yds beyond the third stile, you will find a stone-lined circular feature built into the river bank. This is recently understood to have been used for the process of ‘retting‘, which helped separate flax fibres for use in the sailcloth and rope industry.
5. Continue towards Pavyott’s Mill, past the straw-thatched long roof of Redlands Farm on your left.
6. Cross a double stile, then head towards a small copse with stiles in and out (Y9/25).
7. Cross the river over a small footbridge and turn immediately right, following the river bank. Go through a kissing gate and along a fenced footpath.
On your right is the imposing Pavyott’s Mill (Grade II Listed) and surrounding lakes.
8. After 50yds, turn left through a gate signed ‘Patchlake’.
[If the ground is waterlogged, you may choose an alternative route from here:- instead on going through the gate, carry on to the end of the fenced footpath until you reach Pavyott’s Lane. Turn left up the road for 400yds and take the bridleway to foxholes (Y9/47) on your left (as the road bears right). Follow the hedgeline to the end of this field and rejoin the original route (Step 11), where you will turn right up the hill.]
9. Keeping the hedgerow on your right (Y9/22), continue to a stile on the top of a raised bank.
Standing with your back to the stile, you will see a view of St. Michael’s Church (Grade II Listed) and Coker Court (Grade I Listed), nestling in the wooded hillside. Beyond is a row of beech trees which mark the Parish boundary and the old ridgeway coaching route between Yeovil and Crewkerne.
10. Cross the stile and follow the hedgerow (uneven ground) to group of cottages at Patch Lake. Pass through a wicket gate, turn immediately right through a gate singed Placket and follow the footpath over a stile.
11. Walk north (Y9/21) to the tarmac road.
12. Turn left and follow the road for 50yds to the tree island. Cross straight over the busy East Coker/Yeovil road into Placket Lane (Bridleway 9/51).
13. After 60yds, fork left to Naish Priory (Bridleway 9/52).
14. You will join a tarmac lane at Gunville – follow this straight on towards the medieval Naish Priory.
Naish Priory (Grade I Listed) dates back to at least the 14th Century. Note the imposing, original door. Despite the name, there appears to be no evidence of the building ever being a priory, though there is evidence of communal areas and a dormitory.
15. After the Priory, pass through the kissing gate signed East Coker Post Office (Y9/35) and follow the hedgeline (uneven ground) to the bottom of the field.
16. Go through the kissing gate and continue along the sunken footpath.
17. Turn left at Herne Cottage (Grade II Listed), then immediately right along the path (Y9/48) towards the Post Office, passing North Coker House (Grade II Listed) on your left.
18. Keep straight ahead following the narrow, walled footpath to the kissing gate. Caution: this is a blind exit onto the main road through East Coker.
19. Turn left onto the road, pass East Coker Village Stores (and previously Post Office also) to the junction with Long Furlong Lane (50yds on the right).
20. Turn right into the lane, crossing the grass verge to the pavement opposite.
21. Look for the stile by the five bar gate, cross and follow this path (Y9/38) to East Coker Mill (Grade II Listed). Cross the next stile and down a narrow, walles footpath into Mill Lane.
22. Turn left for 60yds, then turn right into a walled footpath as the road turns to the left. This takes you into Drakes Meadow, the site of the former twine and ropeworks factory. Turn Right at the junction and follow the path back to the Village Hall.